Vapor electric device.



P. c. HEWITT.

VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24,1905v 1 Anna INVENTO wxfnmssss;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PETER COOPER HEWITT, OF NEW YORK, IN. Y.,ASS IGNOR T0 COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC 7 COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

VAPOR ELECTRIC DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 4,1913.

Application filed July 24, 1905. Serial No. 270,903.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER Coorna HEW- no, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of New York, county of New York, State of New York,have invented certain 'new and useful Improvements in Vapor ElectricDevices, of which the following is a specification. The presentinvent'on relates to means for starting into operation vapor electricdevices such as are represented by the well known mercury vapor lamp.

The invention is applicable todevices of the same general characterwhether used as sources of light or forany other purpose.

' In the devices herein described there is an exhausted container inwhich are included two or more electrodes which in the present instanceare illustrated as being two in number and as being composed of mercury.

The device is herein represented as a inercury vapor lamp, this being,however,

' merely by wayof convenience and to avoid complication in description.

The container of the device is provided with trunnions by means of whichit may be pivotally mounted on suitable supports and means are shown fortilting the lamp automatically, say by the employment-of ane!ectro-magnet or some other convenient au-' tomatic device. Of course,the lamp may be tilted by hand if, for any reason, such an operation isdesirable or preferred. In the non-operating position of the apparatusthe electrodes are connected by'a bridge of mercury which bridge iscaused to separate by thetilting operation and thereby establish a flowof current initially through a small portion of the vapor and eventuallythrough the entire vapor path within the lamp.

I have illustrated my invention in a single figure of drawing which isan elevation' of a lamp suited for the purpose herein described.

In the drawing 1 is the container of glass or other suitable transparentmaterial, and 2 and 3 are, respectively, the positive and negativeelectrodes of the apparatus. The

electrodes-2 and 3 are normally connected by a bridge, 4, of mercuryduring such time as the apparatus is "not operating. When,

however, the apparatus is tilted, say by the' energization of theelec'tro-magnet, 5', or by manual means, the mercury flows toward theelectrode 3 and the excess is collected at the electrode 2, thusestablishing the two electrodes at opposite ends of the apparatus .witha vapor path between. During this shifting of the mercury, the currentpasses through an ever widening portion of vapor until a current. flowis set up through the entire device, whereupon the apparatus isestablished in operating condition.

To permit of the easy turning of the device, t-runnions are provided onopposite sides of the container, said t-runnions resting in grooves ornotches in suitable supports. One of the said trunnions is shown at 6and one of the supports at 7.

To provide" an armature for the electromagnet 5 a band 8 of magneticmaterial may be causedto surround the container 1 and place in operativerelation the core of the said magnet. Suitable lead-wires 9 and 10 runto the positive and negativg electrodes, respectively.

Should the apparatus be designed for other uses than those of givinglight, say

to serve the purpose of a converter, the container may bemade oftransparent material, although such a construction is usually preferred.

I claim as my invention:

A mercury vapor lamp, comprising an exhausted container, a relativelylong straight tubular light giving port-ion of said container, mercuryelectrodes in said container, suitable leads therefor, trunnionscentrally mounted on said tubular portion, said trunnions providingahorizontal axis perpendicular to the axis of the tubular portion andmeans for maintaining said tubular portion in a-strictly horizontalposition in the non-operating condition, together with an excess ofmercury within said container whereby a thin layer of mercury connectingthe electrodes lies along the bottom of the tubular portion, and anelectric magnet responsive to current traversing said mercury connectionfor slightly tilting the container out of the initial horizontalposition, said magnet operating upon a magnet armature attached to oneend of the tubular portion.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York,this 20th day of July, A. D. 1905.

PETER COOPER HEWITT.

Witnesses:

WM. H. CAPEL, GEORGE H. STOCKBRIDGE.

